Please give this President some credit for the end of the decline, if nothing more than credit for not making things worse and for promoting some gimmicks to stop the economic bleeding.

That is actually a matter of some debate.

Obama has essentially slow walked the housing crisis, he has made it harder for the banks for foreclose, but he has put very little of actual substance on the table to actually fix the problem.

I would also note that according to the Director of the Congressional Budget office, that the net effect of Obama's "stimulus" will be a slightly smaller economy and a lower GDP than if it had never been enacted. - Again, this is from the Director of the (semi) non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in payoffs to teachers, labor unions, and crony capitalism friends, in exchange for a massively higher debt, larger debt servicing costs AND fewer jobs and a lower GDP at the end of it all is not exactly a matter that is universally regarded as beneficial.

« Last Edit: November 24, 2011, 01:08:21 pm by The Vorlon »

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No man's liberty is safe while Congress is in session...Thomas Jefferson

Gallup is useful for historical comparisons. At 44% approval, Obama is easily able to survive, i.e. other presidents have won with equal or lower numbers. The key will be if the number drops to the 40% or below mark consistently.

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J. J.

"Actually, .. now that you mention it...." - Londo Molari

"Every government are parliaments of whores.The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us." - P. J. O'Rourke

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

The news out of Europe, and the stock market, have shown some correlation with Obama approval numbers.

All the recent economic news, especially with today's positive Europe action, has been good for him. Consumer confidence is way up, unemployment claims below 400,000 for a month, Holiday consumer spending with the greatest year over year increase since 2007. The only bad/neutral news has been last month's unemployment report, and that didn't seem to have an effect.

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

The news out of Europe, and the stock market, have shown some correlation with Obama approval numbers.

We'll see if this is the case after today's massive rally over the next couple of days.

I think Nov unemployment comes out Friday. If it is positive, relatively speaking, it will be difficult to distinguish the two. Jobless claims below 400,000 for a month normally means at least low six figure job growth.

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

The news out of Europe, and the stock market, have shown some correlation with Obama approval numbers.

We'll see if this is the case after today's massive rally over the next couple of days.

I think Nov unemployment comes out Friday. If it is positive, relatively speaking, it will be difficult to distinguish the two. Jobless claims below 400,000 for a month normally means at least low six figure job growth.

That's initial claims per week.

It was above 400,000 today.

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The real scandal in Washington is not the bribery, corruption, or sex. It is how poorly we are governed.

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

The news out of Europe, and the stock market, have shown some correlation with Obama approval numbers.

We'll see if this is the case after today's massive rally over the next couple of days.

I think Nov unemployment comes out Friday. If it is positive, relatively speaking, it will be difficult to distinguish the two. Jobless claims below 400,000 for a month normally means at least low six figure job growth.

That's initial claims per week.

It was above 400,000 today.

Right, but 400,000 is roughly the "people sense improvement" level for that variable. It did rise again, but it has averaged below 400,000 over several weeks. The last time that happened was in Jan and Feb when we had roughly 200K job growth for the month.

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

Very little, if any, real change...

A lot of the changes in RCP and other averages is just polls more favorable to Obama (Pew, CBS, Ipsos, etc) rolling in and out or the average...

Both Gallup and Rasmussen have had a few odd runs. I wonder if there is some issue with samples getting out of sync or something. Both Rasmussen and Gallup buy their raw survey calling lists from the same supplier (Survey Sample International) and I sometimes think there may be some glitch there...

Obama is at the upper end of the 40-45 band for approval, and 50% ish disapproval..

Not good, but not dead in the water either...

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No man's liberty is safe while Congress is in session...Thomas Jefferson

Hmmm... He's back down to -7 to -9 territory now. I wonder what caused the late October-early November bump when it looked like he was moving back to 50/50 approvals? It doesn't seem obvious at all.

Very little, if any, real change...

A lot of the changes in RCP and other averages is just polls more favorable to Obama (Pew, CBS, Ipsos, etc) rolling in and out or the average...

Both Gallup and Rasmussen have had a few odd runs. I wonder if there is some issue with samples getting out of sync or something. Both Rasmussen and Gallup buy their raw survey calling lists from the same supplier (Survey Sample International) and I sometimes think there may be some glitch there...

Obama is at the upper end of the 40-45 band for approval, and 50% ish disapproval..

Not good, but not dead in the water either...

Well he could still be following a delayed Reagan path where good economic news props him back up over 50 by late winter and he stays there. This assumes that Europe stabilizes and the recent uptick in employment and consumer confidence accelerates.

Other than that, or something particularly heroic in foreign policy, I don't know how he gets out of the 42% strong disapproval rut.

Well he could still be following a delayed Reagan path where good economic news props him back up over 50 by late winter and he stays there. This assumes that Europe stabilizes and the recent uptick in employment and consumer confidence accelerates.

Other than that, or something particularly heroic in foreign policy, I don't know how he gets out of the 42% strong disapproval rut.

Can't see where an economic uptick comes from though.

The Euro zone, even assuming an optimistic scenario where it doesn't implode, will certainly not be an engine of growth.

China is wobbly, Japan is, well, Japan...

The overhang of the housing bubble is still huge. ObamaCare is an unknown. The EuroZone remains a ticking time bomb. China is massively overbuilt and their economy is waaay short of enough internal demand to be self sustaining.

I just don't see where the investment and risk taking need to jump start things comes from.

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No man's liberty is safe while Congress is in session...Thomas Jefferson